It's good to see that at least some of the students and faculty at Columbia have enough sense to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking at their university:
Since Columbia is so enamored with criminals and murderers, perhaps they should invite OJ Simpson to be a guess speaker on domestic violence. I'm sure Columbia could learn a lot from what he has to say.
“I don’t mind giving a platform to people with different views, but when someone has consistently made a mockery of free speech in the way that Ahmadinejad has, it’s difficult for me to rationalize giving him a platform here at a great institution like Columbia,” said one student. “I’ve come out to protest that."
“I think the man is immoral. I think he’s a criminal,” said a community member. “It’s outrageous for Columbia to give him a forum. A man who is sponsoring terrorism and killing our soldiers in Iraq; I think it’s insane.”
Since Columbia is so enamored with criminals and murderers, perhaps they should invite OJ Simpson to be a guess speaker on domestic violence. I'm sure Columbia could learn a lot from what he has to say.
Labels: people with some sense
posted by Helen at 1:23 PM
16 Comments:
Why would Columbia ever invite that murdering SOB to speak?
I think it's somebody's way of doing an end-run around the Bush administration to make a peace overture to the Iranians. This could either be due to a genuine belief that it will help avert war with Iran, or simply a way to make themselves look "peaceful" and Bush look "warlike."
It might also be part of a ransom deal for Haleh Esfandiari and the other academics the Iranians have held prisoner on spying charges.
Also, while some people are dismissing A's limited effect on right-thinking Americans, they seem to forget how his ability to travel and speak in the belly of the Great Satan must appear to his countrymen. Despite Bollinger's little lecture, A has bearded the lion and lived. He is not afraid of America, not afraid of Bush. Despite all our tough talk, we are impotent. Maybe God is on Iran's side.
I also wonder how this episode looks to the Iranian dissidents who think we're on their side.
Something for the freedom-of-speech fetishists to ponder over.
I don't see this as a big problem.
I think it is healthy for a society to be exposed on a limited basis to this kind of man so we can observe it up close. Like going to a zoo to see dangerous animals.
Without occasional personal interaction, they become mere cartoons of themselves. Their worst features are ascribed to character assassination from political opponents.
I think there are three positive signs about Ahmadinejad visit that means America is not a lost cause yet: 1) The NYPD refuse to allow him to the Ground Zero site. 2) Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has said he is going to closely monitor Columbia's budget from now on. 3) 25,000 protestors showed up to the UN to denouce Ahmadinejad.
I may not have the time line right, or know fully of what I speak, so I am wondering aloud here.
Hadn't Israel already destroyed Iraq's nuclear capability via air strike by the time it had gotten as far as Iran's is now?
Anybody?
Sid:
They want a nuke, because they believe that having one will cause the U.S. to stop meddling in their affairs. They are wrong, of course, but this is what they believe.
In my opinion, what is really causing latin america to listen to A and Chavez and Ortega and others, is that we really are meddling in their affairs through the subsidization of our own agriculture here. Many of these countries historically produces the staple crops (corn, grains, etc.) that the U.S. consumes. All other things being equal, these countries really are the low cost producers of many staple crops. Nafta lowered import tarifs, but did not stop the U.S. Government from subsidizing farmers, so the U.S. has put many latin farmers out of business.
In addition, U.S. liberals boycott many companies that go to latin america to produce goods at low prices in so-called "sweatshops". The latins simply see this as an attack on their jobs, their children, and their livlihoods. All they want is a chance to compete on fair ground without their superpower neighbor to the north, whose population understands virtually nothing about their culture, trying to "help". U.S. actions, while trying to do good, have many unintended consequences; and the re-emergence of dictators who want arms of mass destruction in latin america is one of them.
Tomcal,
I agree that we need to cut agricultural subsidies and we need to cut a lot of other programs. However, I do worry about food safety. We have seen plenty of bad things coming in from China.
Your boycott comment reminded me that some conservatives are now planning a boycott of Miller because of a poster about a homosexual block party in San Francisco. I thought conservatives were generally opposed to boycotts, but perhaps I misunderstand. Maybe it is just that they don't force you to join with them.
br549: I found a Wikipedia article on an Iraqi nuclear facility that was bombed, called Osiraq.
Serket:
Yes, I just got back from latin america and the 5 others who went with me are all sick. I am not, but that's because I sterilized all of my food with liberal quantities of rum.
The boycott of Miller is a little different in that Miller is no doubt loving it all the way to the bank. I imagine they are seeing a spike in sales because of it. The greatest thing that can happen to you as an advertiser is have some group come out of the woodwork and give you media attention and millions of impressions of your product that no amount of money could buy. As soon as the Miller controversy has run its course, and everyone in the world has seen the word Miller 10,000 times, Miller will pull the ad and apologize for having offended anyone.
The boycott of goods produced offshore is different. All you see are pictures of suffering children and the public actually responds by not buying, putting the families out of work and causing even more misery.
I've never studied economics, like many, I suppose. I know enough about it to realize it is pretty damned complicated. I know American farmers are paid not to plant particular crops when there is an abundance and storage silos are already full. I have heard for years that ships full of grain (that could feed thousands who are starving) are taken out to sea and dumped of their cargo. The American sugar industry is a high cost producer subsidized by our government (our tax money), and we pay more for sugar than if we were purchasing sugar from elsewhere. I have been hearing, also, for many, many years about the destruction of the Amazon Rain Forest. But I never heard why it is being done. Who has? Evidently, Brazil has been planting massive acreage of sugar cane and making fuel out of it, making Brazil less dependent on foreign oil than any other nation. That sheds quite a bit of different light on that subject.
There is a balance of trade necessary to support world pricing. Even the U.S. can't be the answer for the monetary health and well being of every nation on the planet. This country does more than any other nation on the planet in aid to others, not to mention the private contributions in fighting world poverty, hunger, sickness.
Hopefully, the U.S. as a nation, and its individual citizens, will always have the capability to continue to send food, money, medicine and doctors, and self help technology around the undeveloped world. The situation on a world basis does, however, seem to hurt as many as it helps. It is always better to teach a man to fish, rather than to continue to give him fish on a daily basis. The way I see it, some just don't want to fish. They just want to yell at the U.S. for having all these extra fish, and are rotten bastards worthy of scorn, jealousy, and even destruction, because of it.
Maybe I'm a jerk, but I see no problem with, in turn, expecting a nation receiving our help to be on "our side" on the world stage.
Stability is the hoped for result.
Without that, how can we count on anything but war after war? Or continued death and dying from starvation and disease?
I do not want lead paint in children's toys, or food sent here that is possibly tainted. And I doubt seriously I am the lone ranger in that respect.
A very important question, as far as I am concerned, is why in the hell are these other nations incapable of pulling themselves up by their own boot straps? Is not their own government to blame for the most part? I see wealthy leaders in other nations. Wealth that was given by another nation of people who genuinely wish to help its people, not keep its leaders eating caviar and buying weapons to keep themselves in power. You see that first hand, tomcal. Perhaps the U.S. simply has to stay a dominant figure on the world stage, for without our capability, things would only be much worse than they are now. That's my take, anyway. The wonderful things you do in Nicaragua are made possible by your business sense, and paid for by profits generated in the U.S. Previous discussions on this very blog have shown the problems encountered, generated by those in power down there, who have no desire for their own people to come out of the dark. I have a difficult time making myself feel guilty about that. And would have much less guilt with taking those kinds of people out, in order for the residents of this planet to truly live better lives.
Helen, what the HELL are you talking about Ahmadinejad being a murderer?
He never even said, "wipe Israel off the map" that was a LIE, he said "an end to the Zionist regime."
that's a BIG difference, knowing that Israel's warmongering Zionist fanaticism has led to the Afghanistan, Iraq, and god forbid Iran war. Israel is too cowardly to fight its own wars so it gets American gentiles to do it for them. Also, Israel has nuclear weapons capability and isn't a member of the nonproliferation treaty which Iran is, talk about double standard hypocrisy.
The Talmud itself says it's okay to kill and steal and cheat from gentiles and Christians, even the Koran doesn't say such vile things
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